History
Published: July 1988
The last of the ‘true’ Scream! specials, this continued the trend of diminishing returns by being the worst of them all.
The list of problems was substantial. From a childish Dracula story (not branded as The Dracula Files) which contains a ridiculous mistake (yeah, I know, first world problems but really?), another long text only Monster effort, no Max, some really simplistic Ghastly Tale styled efforts, more filler and more reprinted material, this was a really disappointing effort.
The worst thing though was that of the 61 pages (not including the covers), 23 were devoted to Black Beth which had nothing to do with Scream! or even horror in general. TWENTY THREE. That was some bullshit.
Contents
Dracula – Despite not including the words ‘The’ and ‘File’ in the title, this story continues the battle between Dracula and Colonel Stakis. The story begins with a suburban Dracula killing a milkman, alerting Stakis to his presence. The ex-KGB agent then stakes out the area before being attacked from behind by Dracula. Here’s the thing though: he escapes the attack because he saw it coming. How? Because he had a strip of mirror concealed in the rim of his police helmet.
One: vampires don’t cast reflections. I learned that from The Dracula Files FFS. Two: a strip of mirror an inch from your eyes is only going to show you your eyebrows at best. Stupid writing, stupid story, stupid way to start a special.
Black Beth– An infinitely long revenge story about a woman who is left for dead when the local Count kills her husband and neighbours. She comes back, confronts him and he falls off a cliff or something. Not a horror story and definitely not Scream!
Ghosts! – A Ghastly Tale style one pager about a haunted house. A guy goes in, roars a bit and scares off the ghosts. He then haunts it himself. Whatever.
Revenge! – Two grave robbers are delivering a body to the hospital (huh?) via a sewer. The leader of the two men floods part of the sewers to wash away some rats but later the rats chew away at a platform, causing the man to fall into a pit. And then they eat him.
Fangs! – Another one pager. Two parents are stopping a boy from eating chocolate, saying they are forbidden. They then make him brush his teeth and then it turns out he’s a vampire.
A Ghastly Tale ‘The Pharoah’s Curse’ – A reprint from issue 8.
Library of Death ‘Beware the Werewolf! – a reprint of issue 8’s cover feature.
Library of Death: Death Road! – a reprint of issue 6’s Library of Death.
